


Close Your Eyes and Know I'm Yours

by HollowIsTheWorld



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, soulmate - dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:05:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7269511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollowIsTheWorld/pseuds/HollowIsTheWorld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate dreams are simple. You dream about the place you'll someday realize you're in love with your soulmate, so that when you realize it you know it's real. Soulmate dreams are also terribly, dreadfully complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close Your Eyes and Know I'm Yours

**Author's Note:**

> [For the OMGCP trope challenge - Soulmate AU.](https://omgcp-tropechallenge.tumblr.com/post/146206868929/omgcp-challenge-trope-1-soulmate-au)

The rules of soulmate dreams were simple and widely known.

First, you dreamt of the place you would be when you were first hit with the realization that you were in love with your soulmate. Falling in love was a slow process sometimes, so it might or might not be the place you were when you actually fell. Your soulmate might or might not be with you at the time of your realization. If you were unlucky, you might not come to the realization that you loved them until they were gone. The worst kind of soulmate dreams were the ones of cemeteries, or funeral homes. Sometimes they were of churches, realization coming as your soulmate walked down the aisle on someone else’s arm.

Secondly, the dreams, though they’d always be of the same place, might sometimes change as the place did. If you were destined to realize you were in love in a building that hadn’t been constructed yet, for example, you might sometimes drink of the vacant lot where the building would eventually go. And sometimes you wouldn’t. The dreams didn’t always seem to follow the progress of time.

Thirdly, there were never any people in the dreams. Ever. No glimpses of people who frequented the space, no human presence to give a hint as to which human who passed through it might be, if your soulmate was any of them at all.

Eric R. Bittle had not been terribly surprised when he began to have dreams of a kitchen, and it grew less and less surprising as he grew older and began to bake more and more. What _was_ surprising was the _kind_ of kitchen it seemed to be. 

It was usually filthy. The oven always looked so worn out that he sometimes had difficulty imagining that it was even capable of turning on. The counters were frequently cluttered with things like hot sauce, and strange concoctions that looked like they might have been attempts at food. Once. Before they’d started developing ecosystems and turned into someone’s science project. There was usually at least one questionable stain on a surface somewhere.

As he got older, Eric became more and more certain that it was the kitchen of a frat house.

Which was horrifying, because he could not imagine a single scenario involving him staying in a frat house - especially one that looked like that; really, if the kitchen was that much of a disaster what was the state of the rest of it? - for long enough to realize he was in love with someone. Or even get into the _mindset_ to realize he was in love with someone. He was pretty sure that if he stepped into that kitchen he’d be too preoccupied with either trying to get out of it or else with trying to clean it to have any sort of romantic feelings whatsoever.

Jack Zimmermann had spent his life dreaming of a huge grassy field next to a lake, with trees, and a well, and beautiful buildings in the background. Due to the nature of dreams in general and soulmate dreams specifically he could never read the signs that were sometimes there, but he talked about the dreams to his mother and she worked out pretty quickly where they were showing him - the campus of Samwell University.

As a child, Jack had been excited. It didn’t really give you any particular advantage to know in advance where it would happen, the dreams only helped assure you that it was real when it did, but it was still thrilling to have something so concrete to look forward to.

Aside from his parents, he never told anyone where it would happen. A part of him feared someone would use it against him, somehow. Take him there and lie to him, make him think they loved him and that he was supposed to love them back because this was the spot. That happened sometimes, especially to celebrities whose dreams were widely known about.

For a while, he thought he was in love with Kent. He wondered how that could have happened, how the dreams could have been so wrong. And then he’d wonder if _he_ was wrong, and this wasn’t love at all but some cheap imitation instead. Or if maybe this _was_ love, but it didn’t count as realization yet, for some reason. He didn’t think he understood enough about love to say for sure.

And then, of course, everything had gone to hell with Kent and the draft and everything else, and Jack worried he’d managed to screw up soulmates along with everything else.

He told himself that the dreams had nothing to do with him choosing to go to Samwell University. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he wasn’t. But sometimes he’d stop on campus and stare out at the quad, just like how it looked in his dreams - weather allowing - and wonder who he’d realize he loved there. If he would realize he loved anyone at all. If it would come in time, or if he’d be some sad old man when it finally occurred to him, decades too late to act on it.

He still didn’t tell anyone about it. Not even Shitty. He wasn’t sure why, but something about the dreams felt like they should be a secret. Maybe so he couldn’t disappoint anyone else. 

* * *

 

“Gooooooood morning, frogs,” Shitty said, grandly announcing the Haus to Bitty and the other freshman members of the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team.

Bitty was not particularly impressed. It was a frat house. A frat house that didn’t technically have a fraternity living inside of it, sure, but a frat house nonetheless. Too many boys, too little personal hygiene, too much alcohol, too many stupid decisions. Bitty intended to spend as little time inside of it as possible.

The sight of the kitchen made him immediately reassess that thought. The student kitchens were all well and good, but they were open to any students, and Bitty could hardly just sit in there and bake and keep someone else from making themselves something better than what the dining hall had to offer. A kitchen used by significantly fewer people - barely used at all by the looks of the place - was a much better option, and Bitty was tempted to move in for that alone.

It wasn’t until he began moving around in it that he realized it was _the_ kitchen. Someday, Bitty was going to be in this kitchen when he realized he was in love with his soulmate. His stomach jolted around at the thought, and he did what he always did when confronted with literally anything he wasn’t ready to deal with - he made a pie.

* * *

 

A few months later, after coming out to Shitty, the two of them were walking back to the Haus together.

“I should warn you,” Shitty said, “once Ransom and Holster are done with Winter Screw dates, they’re probably going to start asking if you’ve found your soulmate place yet.”

Bitty frowned. “Why?”

“Fuck if I know, brah. Probably start launching random guys at you whenever you’re in the vicinity of it, see if it sticks.”

Bitty rolled his eyes, but he had to admit that that sounded exactly like something Ransom and Holster would do.

“Should I tell them?”

“Depends on how often you want them to force you to be there.”

Bitty smiled sheepishly and could feel his face heating up. “Well, I already practically live there, so...”

“Yeah?” Shitty nudged his shoulder. No other member of the team would have been more than a little jostled by it, but Bitty was light enough to stumble a few steps before regaining his balance. “Trying to give fate a nudge or something?”

“No, I just… Really like baking pies.”

Shitty’s eyebrows went up. “Shit, brah, it’s in the fucking Haus?”

“The kitchen, specifically.”

Shitty laughed. “Hey, good news then! You’ll probably never be back there after graduation, so you’ve got to hit the realization sometime in the next four years, right?”

That thought hadn’t really occurred to him. It was thrilling - only a few more years until he was in love! Really, truly, properly, _forever_ in love! On the other hand, it was terrifying. Was he ready for a soulmate? Was his soulmate ready for _him_?

He took a deep breath, and smiled at Shitty in lieu of a response. 

* * *

 

Jack Zimmermann. Of course it would be just Bitty’s luck to be soulmates with Jack _fucking_ Zimmermann. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or hit something. He ended up crying, clutching Señor Bunny to his chest.

 _Jack Zimmermann_. Jack Zimmermann who, during a team conversation about soulmates, had informed them all that he didn’t care about soulmates. Because of _course_ he didn’t, because he was a _fucking hockey robot_.

Bitty wanted to be angry about it. He thought it might be easier to deal with that way. But he couldn’t seem to manage it properly. Instead, he did his best to behave as though nothing had changed, and did his best to pretend like it didn’t bother him that his soulmate was someone who didn’t want him as a soulmate. Didn’t want _anyone_ as a soulmate, to be fair, but it still stung.

The worst part was his mother. He’d told her it would happen in the Haus kitchen the day he’d realized it, but he couldn’t tell her this. She’d either start crying or show up at the front door to give Jack a talking to. Bitty didn’t know which would make him feel worse, so he kept quiet.

* * *

 

Jack was standing in the quad on graduation day, looking at the lake. He was looking at the lake, thinking about how he would miss Samwell. Miss the team. Miss Bitty. Something was nagging at him. Something about Bitty, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, and he was a little afraid to examine the feeling more closely.

It was his dad who worked it out first, putting his hand on his shoulder.

“This is where you’re supposed to have that realization, isn’t it?”

Jack nodded.

“Did you just have it?”

Jack was about to say no, he hadn’t realized anything, and then it was hitting him like a lightning strike. Bittle. He was going to miss _Bittle_. Because he was in love with him. He was in love with him and he was _this fucking close_ to letting his opportunity slip through his fingers.

He said nothing, but the realization must have shown on his face, because his dad nodded knowingly. “Go.”

Jack went. Jack _ran_.

He had meant to tell Bitty. That had been the plan. To race back to the Haus and tell him the whole story - or an abridged version of it, due to time constraints - and see what he had to say.

But Bitty had been crying.

Bitty had been crying, and Jack’s gut had twisted, and he had wanted to fix it, and words weren’t working right, and he kissed him. And then he kissed him again. And again. And a few more times, just for good measure.

He ended up getting the chance to tell him nothing at all until late that night, when they were both free to call. Jack didn’t feel like it was a good conversation for texting.

“So that was… unexpected,” Bitty said, giggling a little. Jack didn’t _think_ he said it like it was a bad thing, but he knew he wasn’t very good at picking up on people’s emotions. That personal failing was causing him a lot more concern right now that it usually did.

“Yeah. I, um…” Jack rubbed the back of his head. The soulmate talk. Okay. He could do that. He could tell Bitty the whole thing and hope it didn’t panic him, or make him think Jack was a liar. Okay. Okay.

“My, uh, my dreams,” Jack began awkwardly. “My soulmate dreams. They’re of the quad, by the lake. Where the, uh, the graduation ceremony was.”

“Oh?” Bitty paused a moment, and then, “I thought you didn’t care about soulmates?”

Jack bit his lip. “I never really thought I would get one, to be honest. And if I did, I thought it would be too late, or they wouldn’t want me, or… Something.”

“Thats… grim.”

“What about you?” Jack didn’t like to talk about soulmates very much, so he’d always left the room when conversations turned that direction. If Bitty talked about his soulmate dreams, Jack didn’t know about it.

Bitty’s laugh sounded nervous. “The, um, the Haus. The kitchen.”

Jack laughed, genuinely, despite his nerves. “Of course you would realize you’re in love in a kitchen. It isn’t like you’re ever anywhere else.”

“Hush, you,” Bitty said, but he was laughing too.

Jack sobered. “Have you… realized yet?”

There was a long silence, and Jack felt like his heart was beating so loud Bitty would be able to hear it on the other end of the line.

“Yes,” Bitty finally said, his voice small. “H-have you?”

“Today. In the quad. After graduation.”

“That’s why…”

“Yes.” There was another long silence and Jack began to have trouble breathing, convinced Bitty was about to say that _his_ realization had been about someone else, that Jack must be one of those people who were soulmates with someone who was soulmates with someone else.

There was a strangled noise on the other side of the phone and Jack realized with a shock that Bitty was crying.

“I didn’t think - I mean, I was - It was _fine_ , but - Oh, _Jack_.”

“So I’m yours too?” Jack asked to be sure.

“Are you… Of _course_ you’re mine, you hockey obsessed, emotionally obtuse…”

Jace could tell Bitty was trying to deliver one of his long winding insults that were more statements of affection than actual insults, but he couldn’t seem to get to the end of it.

“I love you, Bits,” Jack said, because if they were soulmates he could say it, right? He wanted to say it. It felt _right_ to say it, like he had been waiting to say it his whole life. Even if maybe it was a little sudden.

Bitty made a surprised sound. “Oh…” And then, sounding almost shy, “I love you too, Jack.”

Jack smiled, and something about the world seemed to slide a little more properly into place for both of them.

**Author's Note:**

> [I am also on tumblr](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


End file.
